"How long are you planning on staying here?" Hannah asked Shelly.

Shelly shrugged. "I dunno, a little while longer. Everyone's having fun." She looked at Hannah. "Or almost everyone. Why, aren't you having fun?"

Hannah was surprised by the caring tone in Shelly's voice when she asked this. It sounded like Shelly was concerned for her welfare; Hannah hadn't expected that. "It's not that I'm not having fun" Hannah said. "It's just . . . I dunno."

"You feel out of place?"

"Yeah."

"You're not" Shelly insisted. "You're here with me. Everyone here knows you're my girlfriend. That's all there is to it."

Hannah felt a sudden strong desire to have a drink: if she was drinking she wouldn't have to talk, and the talk was getting confusing.

"Do you want to leave?" Shelly asked.

"No. Not necessarily. I just want you to tell me when you're going to leave. So I can leave first. I mean, not 'first', not because -" She stopped: Shelly was smiling despite herself. "What?" Hannah demanded.

"Nothing, nothing, I'm sorry." Shelly covered her mouth with her hand, but Hannah could tell she was smiling underneath.

"Look, I'm not trying to get the upper hand here" Hannah said, trying to explain herself. "It's not some power-play. I'm not gonna turn around and say 'Ha! I left first!' But if you're not here I don't wanna be here. I mean with other people. With your friends. It'd be weird."

"Well just tell me when you wanna leave."

"I don't know when."

"But when you do know, Hannah. Tell me. And we'll go" she said, quietly, almost shyly.

"You mean I'll go and then you'll go afterwards" Hannah corrected her. "No point pretending" she added bitterly.

"I mean we'll go" Shelly repeated. "Together. It's about time we started doing things together again, don't you think?" She looked at Hannah more intently, and her eyes suddenly narrowed in amazed comprehension. "Hannah, what did you think this was? A break-up?" She put a hand tenderly on Hannah's arm, and when Hannah didn't resist she left it there. "Honey, is that what you thought?"